Primordial Era: A brick knocks Hongyun unconscious, and he seizes the throne at the start.

When Lu Chen slipped back to Wuzhuang Temple, Zhen Yuanzi was sitting under the ginseng fruit tree, brewing tea.

The tea was Enlightenment Tea, "borrowed" from Lu Chen—though it was borrowed, judging from Zhen Yuanzi's nonchalant demeanor, he probably had no intention of returning it.

"You're back?" Zhen Yuanzi poured two cups of tea, pushing one towards him. "The demon race is making quite a fuss. Di Jun turned the East Sea upside down, all to find you."

"Let's find him." Lu Chen picked up his teacup and drank it all in one gulp. "Anyway, he wouldn't dare come to Wanshou Mountain to demand people back."

Zhen Yuanzi laughed: "You little rascal, you really know how to cause trouble. But this time... you did well."

Lu Chen raised an eyebrow: "Senior, you also disapprove of the demon race slaughtering the human race?"

"Disliking something is one thing, going with the flow is another." Zhen Yuanzi poured himself another cup of tea. "Humans were created by the saint Nuwa, and the demon race's actions have already incurred her wrath. By saving those human souls, you have helped the saint Nuwa save some face, and she is grateful to you."

Lu Chen understood.

No wonder when he returned to Longevity Mountain, he sensed a faint divine thought of a sage sweeping over him, carrying a benevolent fluctuation—it turned out that Nuwa was expressing her opinion.

"By the way, senior," Lu Chen took out a small box from the Qiankun Diagram, "this is a gift for you."

Inside the box was a small bottle of "Residual Three Lights Divine Water". Although there were only a dozen drops left, it was still a precious healing treasure.

Zhen Yuanzi accepted it without hesitation: "Tell me, who are you plotting against this time?"

"Look at what you're saying," Lu Chen grinned. "I just wanted to ask you something—when will the Witch-Slaying Sword be finished?"

Zhen Yuanzi calculated with his fingers, then frowned slightly: "It'll be soon. Di Jun was enraged when you stole three million souls from him, so he directly extracted the essence and souls of the demon race's elite to fill the gap, which actually accelerated the sword forging process. At most... three months."

Three months.

Lu Chen narrowed his eyes.

In the original story, the day the Witch-Slaying Sword was forged was the day the final battle between the Lich King and the Witch Demon would begin.

That sword was too fierce; it was specifically designed to counter the physical bodies of the Witch Clan, capable of annihilating the true form of an Ancestral Witch with a single strike! If the Witch Clan hadn't later also forged the "Witch-Slaying Blade" (which was actually the one Lu Chen planted as a mine), the Witch Clan would have been defeated in the first Witch-Demon War.

"Senior, do you think... there's any way to make the Slaughtering Sword 'problem'?" Lu Chen asked tentatively.

Zhen Yuanzi glanced at him: "What mischief are you up to now?"

"It's not about playing tricks, it's about self-preservation." Lu Chen said seriously, "Think about it, if the Witch-Slaying Sword is too powerful, and the Witch Clan is defeated too quickly, and the Demon Clan unifies the prehistoric world, will we rogue cultivators still have a good life? Won't we be harvested like leeks by the Demon Clan?"

"Nonsense." Zhen Yuanzi shook his head but did not refute it. "However, it's difficult to wield the Witch-Slaying Sword. Emperor Jun and Taiyi personally guarded the sword-forging formation, and the Ten Demon Saints took turns protecting it. Not even a mosquito could fly in."

"If we can't fly in, we can use 'internal channels'," Lu Chen said with a meaningful smile.

Zhen Yuanzi was taken aback: "What do you mean?"

"Do you remember the 'Zhou Tian Xing Dou Grand Array Optimization Plan' that I anonymously sent to the demon race before?" Lu Chen lowered his voice. "In that plan, I planted a backdoor—it can remotely affect the energy supply of the sword refining array through array fluctuations."

Zhen Yuanzi gasped, "You..."

"It'll only have a tiny impact." Lu Chen gestured with a fingernail-sized hand. "Just reduce the power of the Witch-Slaying Sword by 10% when it's forged. It won't be noticeable, but it could save lives in a critical moment."

"What do you want to do?"

"I need your help, senior." Lu Chen leaned closer. "You use the Earth Book to activate the primordial earth veins and create an 'earth vein tide' to disrupt the spiritual energy of the East Sea for three hours. During those three hours, I'll use a back door to do something."

Zhen Yuanzi remained silent.

After a long silence, he sighed, "Lu Chen, do you know the consequences of doing this?"

"I know." Lu Chen nodded. "The war between the Lich King and the Demon King will be prolonged, and the casualties will be even greater. But... it's still better than one side being completely crushed, and then the primordial world completely losing its balance, right?"

That's half true and half false.

Lu Chen's real purpose was to cause both the Slaughtering Witch Sword and the Slaughtering Witch Blade to "malfunction" at the same time, so that he could pick up the scraps—the fragments from the collision of the two fierce weapons were all top-grade refining materials!

But I can't say that.

Zhen Yuanzi remained silent for a while, then finally nodded: "This is a one-time exception, and there will be no next time."

"Thank you, senior!"

Three months later, the East Sea Sword Forging Array was established.

Di Jun Taiyi stood at the core of the formation, looking at the blood-red giant sword that had already taken shape, his eyes flashing with fanaticism.

The Witch-Slaying Sword is finally coming to fruition!

The sword was nine zhang and nine chi long, its entire body crimson like blood, its surface flowing with patterns of the essence blood of countless elite demons, and faint wails of vengeful spirits emanating from its blade. The sheer baleful aura it emitted caused the surrounding space to constantly crumble and reform, as if it could not withstand the sword's ferocious power.

"Brother, the time has come." Taiyi looked up at the sky.

It is midnight, the moonlight is at its strongest, and the yin energy is at its heaviest. This is the final step in sword forging—using the moonlight to temper the sword and balance the excessively violent solar essence within it.

"Draw the moonlight!" Emperor Jun commanded.

The sword-forging formation activated, and a thick pillar of moonlight descended from the sky, pouring into the body of the Witch-Slaying Sword!

The sword trembled violently, the blood color gradually faded, turning into an eerie dark red. Its sharpness was restrained, yet it was even more deadly.

But just at the most crucial moment when the moonlight was poured in—

On the seabed of the East China Sea, the earth's veins suddenly stirred!

Rumble!

A massive tsunami swept across the entire East China Sea, causing the earth's spiritual energy to surge wildly, disrupting even the supply of spiritual energy to the sword-forging array!

"What's going on?!" Di Jun's expression changed drastically.

"It's the ley lines tide!" Taiyi sensed the anomaly in the ley lines. "Someone is interfering with the East Sea ley lines!"

Just as the two were about to stabilize the formation, a strange fluctuation suddenly emanated from the core of the Zhou Tian Xing Dou Formation (optimized version)!

That was the backdoor Lu Chen had planted, and it's been activated!

The fluctuation was very slight, but at the crucial moment of sword forging, this slight fluctuation was amplified a hundredfold!

"Buzz—!"

The Slaughtering Sword emitted a piercing screech, and a tiny crack quietly appeared on the surface of its blade.

Although it was instantly repaired by the subsequent moonlight, at the very moment the crack appeared, a drop of "Chaotic Demon God's Resentful Blood" buried within the sword took the opportunity to merge into the core of the sword!

Di Jun and Tai Yi were completely unaware.

They only saw the earth vein tides quickly subside, the great formation return to normal, and the Slaughtering Witch Sword successfully complete its tempering and be completed!

"It's done!" Di Jun gripped the sword hilt, feeling the terrifying power within the sword enough to annihilate the true form of the Ancestral Witch. He laughed loudly, "With this sword in hand, the Witch Clan will surely be destroyed!"

Taiyi also breathed a sigh of relief. Although the abnormality just now made him a little uneasy, the sword was already completed, so there should be no problem.

What the two didn't know was—

Thousands of miles away, on a deserted island.

Lu Chen squatted on a reef, holding a compass-shaped treasure in his hands—this was the "Array Dao Deduction Compass" that he had taken from the Treasure Dividing Cliff, which was specially used to remotely control the back door of the array.

"Done." He grinned, looking at the light spot on the compass representing the Slayer Sword. "The Chaos God's resentful blood has been injected. When it clashes with the Slayer Sword... hehe."

He put away the compass and vanished using the brick-throwing technique.

The next day, the Heavenly Court of the Demon Race proclaimed to the primordial world:

"The Sword of Slaughter is complete; the Witch Clan shall be annihilated! The decisive battle will take place at Buzhou Mountain in three days!"

The entire primordial world trembled.

The Wu tribe was not to be outdone. The ancestral Wu Dijiang raised his Wu-slaying sword (corrupted by the resentful blood of the Chaos Demon God) and proclaimed in kind:

"The demon race is rampant! The true lineage of Pangu is here! Three days from now, at the foot of Buzhou Mountain, we will fight to the death!"

The two races declared war, marking the beginning of the final battle of the Great Tribulation.

At this moment, Lu Chen had returned to Wuzhuang Temple and was playing chess with Zhen Yuanzi.

"You've taken a risky step," Zhen Yuanzi said, placing a piece on the board. "You've tampered with both the Witch-Slaying Sword and the Witch-Slaying Blade. What if they don't even clash?"

"There's no way they won't clash." Lu Chen captured one of the opponent's pieces. "Neither Di Jun nor Di Jiang are the type to swallow their pride. When they meet, they'll definitely use their most powerful weapons to fight. At that time..."

He made a "bang" gesture.

"With both weapons exploding simultaneously, the Lich and Demon races will lose their greatest reliance, and the war will enter its most brutal melee phase." Zhen Yuanzi shook his head, "The casualties will be even greater."

"But only in this way can the outcome be fair," Lu Chen said calmly. "Otherwise, a one-sided massacre would be a real tragedy."

That sounds very high-sounding.

But Zhen Yuanzi knew that Lu Chen's real purpose was to pick up a bargain.

Once the two deadly weapons explode, the fragments, the scattered essence and soul, the treasures left behind on the battlefield... will all be ownerless.

Knowing this kid's nature, he'll definitely rush in to "clean up the battlefield" immediately.

"Fine, do as you please." Zhen Yuanzi conceded defeat, pushing the plate aside. "However, Lu Chen, the final battle of the Great Tribulation is no small matter; the Sages will surely pay attention. You should... tone it down."

"I understand, junior." Lu Chen chuckled as he put away the chess pieces. "I promise I'll only pick up trash, not get involved in the fight."

Zhen Yuanzi glanced at him but didn't say anything.

You'd be a fool to believe you.

Three days later, at the foot of Mount Buzhou.

The armies of the Lich and Demon races clashed, their malevolent aura soaring to the heavens, causing the world to change color.

Di Jun held the Slaughtering Witch Sword, and Di Jiang gripped the Slaughtering Witch Blade. The two top powerhouses of the primordial world stared at each other across tens of thousands of miles of void.

"Dijiang, today is the day the Witch Clan will be exterminated!"

"Di Jun, that's what I should be saying!"

The two attacked at the same time!

The Slaughtering Witch Sword unleashed a ten-thousand-foot-long crimson sword aura, while the Slaughtering Witch Blade cleaved out a pitch-black blade light. The two terrifying forces, capable of annihilating quasi-saints, collided violently in mid-air!

"boom--!!!"

Heaven and earth fell silent, and all things perished.

But at the core of the collision, the chaotic demonic blood within the two deadly weapons was completely activated!

The blade of the Witch Slayer Sword and the body of the Witch Killer Blade were simultaneously covered with dense black cracks!

Di Jun and Di Jiang's expressions changed drastically.

But it was too late.

"Bang--!!!"

The two deadly weapons exploded into countless fragments at the same time!

The aftershocks of the explosion swept across the battlefield, resulting in countless deaths and injuries among the elite forces of both the Lich and the Demon races!

Meanwhile, somewhere in the clouds on the outskirts of the battlefield.

Lu Chen, carrying the Qiankun Diagram, grinned from ear to ear:

"Let's get to work!"